Homeowners: Use Tax For Dredging Keeping Brevard's Canals Deep

August 3, 1987|By Michael Lafferty of The Sentinel Staff

MERRITT ISLAND — Homeowners have begun a quiet campaign aimed at getting Brevard County officials to set aside money yearly to maintain the county's navigable canals and channels the same way roads are maintained.

The waterways have not been deepened in years and accumulations of silt are making many too shallow for boats. As a result, some boats have been damaged and others are operated at dangerously high speeds to get past the shallow areas, homeowners say.

''Canals are just like roads, they have to be maintained,'' said Norm Hall, one of two Merritt Island homeowner representatives who have been meeting with county officials. ''What we need is a countywide program that covers not only Merritt Island but Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach.''

Brevard County made provisions for canal maintenance in Merritt Island when special road and bridge taxing districts were set up in 1981, said Stan Allen, the other homeowner who is meeting with county officials.

About $40,000 was set aside the first year and a number of canals and channels were dredged, Allen said.

But in subsequent years, no money has been earmarked for canal maintenance and no work has been done because all the money is being spent on roads and bridges, he said.

''Up to this point the need for road improvements has outweighed the need for canal improvements,'' said Billy Taylor, director of public works for Brevard.

However, Taylor said the county is interested in a proposal by Merritt Island residents to set aside a certain amount of money each year for canal maintenance that would come solely from taxes paid by property owners who live along navigable waterways.

The county is compiling a list of those property owners to determine how much they pay each year and what would be a reasonable annual percentage from the road and bridge taxing district for canal maintenance.

Allen said even $50,000 a year would go a long way toward improving Merritt Island's extensive canal system.

Moreover, he said owners of waterfront property pay higher taxes and therefore ''some of this money that we pay extra because we live on a canal should be put into a fund to maintain those canals.''

The biggest problem, homeowners agree, is at the mouths of canals leading to residential areas and channels leading to the Banana and Indian rivers.

To get past those shallow areas, owners of larger boats often must increase speed to get their vessels ''on a plane,'' Allen said, which sometimes carries them into slow zones. Moreover, boat owners frequently damage propellers and hulls from scraping the bottom or hitting debris in shallow water.